What was the cause of this uplifted region on the Saharan desert floor
cut by a circular crater with concentric terraces? Geologists
speculate that erosion by wind and water must have worked its magic
on the upraised dome. Electric theorists see something else—the scar
left by electric discharge.

In the October 28, 2002 Astronomy Picture of the Day the
"explanation" goes like this: "What on Earth is that? The
Richat Structure in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania is easily
visible from space because it is nearly 50 kilometers across. Once
thought to be an impact crater, the
Richat Structure's flat middle and lack of shock-altered rock
indicates otherwise. The possibility that the
Richat Structurewas formed by a volcanic eruption also seems
improbable because of the lack of a dome of
igneousor volcanic rock. Rather, the layeredsedimentary rockof the Richat structure is now thought by many
to have been caused by uplifted rock sculpted by
erosion....Why the
Richat Structure is nearly circular remains a mystery."

Electric Universe proponents consider the circularity of the Richat
Structure to be predictable. So they pose a different question for
planetary scientists: What
on Earth and
Moon,
Mercury,
Venus, Mars,
Io,
Europa,
Phobos,Mimas and
Tethys,
Enceladus,
Miranda,
Eros,
and
other asteroids,
etc. are
these?
Geologists
have never adequately explained why almost all craters everywhere
are circular. This has only been
dismissed as a feature of impacts, something that has never been
demonstrated, but only surmised. Other features of various
circular craters--domes,
spheres,
steep walls,chains, central peaks with
strata consistent with the walls or surrounding terrain, undisturbed
strata in the floor, unexpected size distribution, unexpected
placement distribution (such as location on therim of other
craters),
elevated ramparts--all defy coherent explanation
under the impact
model.

Advocates of the EU model claim that craters
like the Richat were not
formed by impacts but were "machined" by electric discharges,
Birkeland currents that rotate around a "sticking" point and
excavate material by electrically accelerating it upwards without
disturbing the surrounding or underlying strata, unless the whole
area is raised in a fulgamite blister--hence Rampart Craters.
Specific effects will depend on a wide variety of soil conditions
including chemical
composition, material type, density, moisture, and conductivity.
Discharge factors, including diameter, voltage, current, and
duration will also affect the crater configuration.

In contrast to conventional theorists,
advocates of the electric universe contend that planets moved under the influence of
electrified plasma, a medium that can easily overwhelm gravity.
Orbits changed, and catastrophic electrical encounters altered the
terrain, the climates, and the atmospheres of planets, including our
Earth.

In the case of the Richat Structure, it is
evident that the force uplifting the area also cut the concentric crater
walls. In crater formation, the
electrical forces constrain the arc to contact the surface at a
90-degree angle. Because the arc typically consists of one or more
pairs of channels rotating around a common axis, a stationary arc
will etch a circular crater and, in stratified terrain, will machine out concentric circles.